Five-wicket Finn puts himself in Ashes frame

England fast bowler Steven Finn found himself talking about touring Australia, even though the Ashes are several months away, after a man-of-the-match-winning effort in the first Test against Bangladesh.

The 6ft 7in quick enjoyed the familiar surroundings of his Lord's home ground by taking five wickets for 87 runs and match figures of nine for 187 as England beat Bangladesh by eight wickets on the fifth day here on Monday.

This was only the 21-year-old's third Test, and first in England, after he made his debut during England's 2-0 series win in Bangladesh in March where he managed just four wickets in total.

But, given a chance in the absence of the rested Stuart Broad, Finn bowled with pace, accuracy and intelligence as was shown Monday when he dismissed Junaid Siddique with a well-disguised slower ball.

England may hold the Ashes but they have not won a Test series in Australia since 1986/87.

And those England fast bowlers who've enjoyed stand out tours of Australia since the Second World War constitute an elite club made up of Frank Tyson, Brian Statham, Fred Trueman, John Snow, Bob Willis and Graham Dilley.

Finn for one played down his chances of joining such company ahead of the Ashes, which get underway in November.

"There are guys to come back in who are ahead of me in the pecking order," he said. "I'm not going to kid myself.

"But fundamentally, it's up to me to make it difficult for the selectors to drop me... If I keep taking wickets, my name will be there or thereabout."

Bangladesh, following-on, were bowled out for 382 with Finn taking three wickets for eight runs in 15 balls in Monday's morning session.

His second innings haul secured Finn a coveted place on the Lord's honours boards and the only concern was the way in which the paceman fell over several times in his follow-through.

"It's something I do pretty regularly, I'm like Bambi on ice sometimes when I get going," Finn said of his stumbles. "My legs just go from under me and when one bit goes the rest tends to go."

England were left with 160 to win in two sessions.

They finished on 163 for two with Jonathan Trott, who made 226 in the first innings, unbeaten on 36.

England captain Andrew Strauss, a Middlesex colleague of Finn, returned to international cricket with scores of 83 and 82 after the opener was rested from the tour of Bangladesh and missed the side's World Twenty20 triumph in the Caribbean as he no longer plays in that format.

"He's obviously got some great attributes, his height and a pretty clean action," Strauss said of Finn.

"If you look at bowlers who take wickets in Australia, those kind of heavy, hit the deck bowlers tend to do well in Australia -- Glenn McGrath had a 'reasonable' career in Australia," he added tongue-in-cheek.

"But Finny's right, there's a lot of water to come under the bridge.

"Hopefully we'll have a full complement of bowlers to pick from, the likes of Stuart Broad and Graham Onions to come back."

England have now won all seven of their Tests against Bangladesh but the Tigers were a transformed team from the side that lost by an innings and 261 runs at Lord's five years ago.

This match saw fast bowler Shahadat Hossain take five first innings wickets before dashing opener Tamim Iqbal took a toll of England's attack with a second innings century at better than a run-a-ball.

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan, speaking ahead of the second and final Test of this series at Old Trafford, which starts on Friday, was delighted with Tamim and the top order.

"Tamim played a fantastic game at Lord's but not only him. Junaid Siddique (58 and 74) and Imrul Kayes (43 and 75) showed their character."

Shakib added: "We had a good chance to draw if we'd batted more than 50 overs. It's always frustrating when you lose but we can take so many positives from this game.

"But there are so many negative things too and we need to learn from them and improve."